Govt Proposes New Amendments to the Copyright Act to Encompass All the Broadcasters

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal trade (DPIIT) has introduced new changes in the Copyright Amendment Rules, 2019, and has sought the public to give their views and feedback for the same, till June 2019. The government is proposing new amendments to encompass all the broadcasters under its range, which was earlier confined only to television and radio broadcaster.

The new amendments in the copyright laws were drafted in the light of growing technological advancements and to bring parity with other relevant legislation. As per the Intellectual Property Rights experts, this new proposed draft will offer non-traditional broadcaster like Web and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) to take the statutory license from the copyright holder for their copyrighted content.

At present, the act encompasses only TV and radio broadcast firms which are permitted to grant prior permission from the possessor and negotiate the charges unanimously, or through the Intellectual Property Appellate Board under Section 31 D of the Copyright Act.

The new amendments also introduced changes to supersede the Copyright Board with the Appellate Board. It affirms that the if royalty is not distributed due to copyright owner till the end of the period of 3 months from the end of the financial year in which the royalty collected was received, then the copyright society shall reimburse such amount to the licensee within a stipulated time period of 3 months from the end of that particular financial year.

The government also introduced changes in the patent regime to bring lucidity corresponding to the working environment for a registered invention on a commercial scale in India.

The DPIIT is also introducing changes in Form 27, which appraise the Patent Office, whether a patent has been registered in India or not. Earlier it was indefinite with no clarity on what can be revealed or what cannot be. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/